Elbeidge wheeleb



E. WHBBLBR-. MANUFAGTUBE 0F WIRE.

(No Model.)

Patented Peb. 14. 1888.

am., n////////////// V@ f4/Wa a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELERIDGE WHEELER, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR To HIMSELE, WARE R. GAY, AND GEORGE w. GOGIN, TRUSTEES, ALL OE SAME PLAGE.`

MANUFACTURE oF WIRE.`

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378.031. dated February' 14, 1888.

Application filed April 30, 1886. Renewed July 2l, 1887. Serial No. 214,925. (No-model.) j

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELRRIDGE WHEELER, ofBoston,county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, havev invented an Improvement in Metal Wire with Non-Metallic Gore, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. y

This invention has for its object the production of wire in a novel manner.

My improved wire is produced from an ingot containing and enveloping one or more non-metallic cores. In practice the core will be composed of plumbago, soapstone, or other nonmetallic substance which possessessufficient specific gravity to resist compression to a certain degree, and which will be preferably free.

from grit. The non-metallic core will be contained in a casing or jacket composed, preferably, of sheet iron or steel, 0r the said core may be baked or united by a binder. The

. casing or jacket and its contained core will be into the mold will preferably completely envelop the casing'or jacket, and the cored ingot thus formed and composed of a metal shell or envelope containing an automatic non-metallic changeable core will then be reduced in any usual manner by passing said cored ingot through suitable rolls, or it may be reduced by hammering,or by compression, or in otherl equivalent manner. After the cored ingot has been reduced to the desired size it is cut into blooms of any desired length, and the ends of each bloomv are preferably capped or plugged. Each bloom is then reduced in any usual or well-known process of rolling or drawing wire.A During the reduction of the bloom the non-metallic core will conform to t-heishape given to the wire.

- Figure l is a sectional elevat-ion of a mold coutaininga non-metallic core by which to practice my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of an ingot produced in" accordance with my invention; Fig. 3, a crosssection of Fig. 2 on line a: w,- Fig; 4, a modification to be referred to; Fig. 5, a longitudinal section of a bloom provided with caps or plugs; Fig. 6, a

longitudinal section of a wire produced from the bloom shown in Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 an end view of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a base tol support a mold, A', with which to practice my invention, the said mold being herein shown as rectangular in-shape, but which may be of any usual or desired configuration,- said moldA being composed of iron or any other suitable orusual material. Vithin the mold A is placed a core of non-metallic material, preferably plumba'go, (shown in Fig. l as` contained within a jacket or casing, a, supported upon pins a', but the said core may be baked or united by a suitable binder.) The core referred to will preferably be of such length that it will fall below the top of the mold A when placed upon its supporting-pin a', as shown in Fig. l.

The core will in most instances be preferably placed in the center of the mold A', and when in such position the molten metal,which may be iron, steel, copper, or any other ductile metal, but which will preferably be copper, on account of the extensive use of copper wire in telegraphy-and` telephony, will,be poured into said mold, the pouring being continued until the metal, preferably', completely envelops the said core, so as to leave solid metal ends, as shown in section, Fig. 2.

The rectangular ingot, supposed, as stated, to be composed of copper, b, containing a core,

b', of nonmetallic material, may be red need in usual manner-such as by rolling, hammering, or compression-and .when so reduced it may be cut into blooms of any desired length.

Each of the blooms referred to may, ifdesired, have its ends closed by caps or plugsd, (see Fig. 5,) and the said bloom will Vbe then passed through any usual or well-known pro cess of reduction employed in drawing wire.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, I have shown in longitudinal and cross section a wire `made from a bloom such as referred to, and in said figures b represents thenou-metallic core, the same being 'very small in cross-section, owing to the reduction of the bloom.y

Instead of sing the supportingpins a', as shown in Fig. 1, the casing orjacketa may, if desired, rest upon one or more iron plates, as shown at ci', Fig. 4. l

I do not desire to limit myself-to the form of mold shown, as a mold of any form may be used equally as well.

Awire, preferably composed of coppcr,such as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and produced in accordance with my invention is lighter than an all-metal wire of equal cross-section and especially adapted for telephony and tclegraphy, the non-metallic core obviating to a considerable degree the sagging ofthe wire when it is strung between poles on a telegraph or telephone circuit, and at the same time the employment ofthe said core reduces the amount of metal in cross-section, thereby enabling copper to be used where heretofore it could not be practically employed, owing toits cost and low tensile strength.

In practice it has been ascertained that a wire such as described is stronger and will stand more twisting and bending without breaking than a solid wire of equal crosssee tion.

I do not herein claim, broadly, an ingot of metal having its center of sand or other silieious or non-metallic material, such as shown in my application, Serial No. 190,871, filed February 4, 1886.

consisting of a seamless metal body containing and enveloping a core of non-metallic material, substantially as described.

3. The art or method of forming wire,which v consists, first, in placing a core of non-metallic material within a mold; second, pouring or casting molten metal into said mold to envelop and surround said core with a metal body; third, reducing the ingot thus formed into blooms, and, lastly, reducing said blooms to form a wire having a non-metallic core or center, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specilcation in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELBRIDGE WHEELER.

Witnesses: l

G. W'. GREGORY, J. H. CHURCHILL. 

